Deedy.com Blog

Dianne Dowd sent along another photo from her collection today. The photo appears to be from the 1890's and pictured may be Bartholomew McDonough, Michael Brennan, and Martin McDonough. Seated in front of the three men are likely their wives - Margaret Fay, Bridget McDonough, and Maria Simmonds.

While the photo is not marked, Dianne made the identification after looking at other known photos. I have posted one of Dianne & Tom Dowd's photos of Bartholomew and the shorter man in this photo does resemble him.

Thank you again Dianne & Tom for sharing another great old photo!

Labels: Dowd_Collection, McDonough

THOMPSON, EDWIN L.

Edwin L. Thompson, long time resident of Briarcliff Manor, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by his immediate family on December 30th.

Edwin, who was known to all his family and friends as Ted, was born in NYC and grew up in Larchmont, NY, the son of Leslie E. Thompson of NYC and Agnes McDonough Thompson of Worcester, Mass. He is survived by his loving wife of 22 yrs, Helen Murtha Thompson, his brother Leslie E. and his wife Dee Thompson of Cottonwood Az.; his son Robert L. Thompson of Medford, Mass, daughter Rosemary Thompson of Deposit, NY, Step-son Thomas K. Murtha of Bellmore, NY and grandson Michael J. Katen of Deposit, NY. His loving family includes numerous nieces, nephews, sisters and brothers-in-law. Ted was pre-deceased by brothers John L. Thompson of Cohasset, Mass., Bill Thompson of New Rochelle, NY. and first wife Martha Hughes Thompson.

Ted attended Iona Prep in New Rochelle and Cranwell Prep in Mass. He then joined the US Army and served as a corporal in the Pacific in the 624th Field Artillery unit. After Military Service he graduated from Holy Cross College in Worchester, Mass. His career in the Supermarket industry included Personnel manager for A& P food stores and Director of Labor Relations with Gristede's Supermarkets, negotiating multiple contracts during his years of service.

As a retiree Ted worked as a sales representative in the Real Estate Industry for Rae Molinelli and HoulihanLawrence in Briarcliff. Ted was a loyal member of St. Theresa's parish in Briarcliff, serving as an usher in his early years. He enjoyed many rounds of golf with friends and family as a member of Pleasantville Golf Club and then Highlands Golf Club. He was an enthusiastic Yankee fan and will be remembered as a man of good cheer with a winning smile.

Visitation will be at Waterbury and Kelly Funeral Home of Briarcliff Manor on Sunday, Jan. 3rd from 3-7pm. The funeral will be at St. Theresa's Church on Pleasantville Rd. in Briarcliff at 10am Monday, Jan 4th. In Lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the National Kidney Foundation at their website: www.kidney.org. Waterbury & Kelly of Briarcliff Manor 1300 Pleasantville Road Briarcliff Manor, N.Y10510 914-941-0838 914-941-0838

Thank you to Patty Quattrochio for sending this notice to me. My condolences to Ted's family and friends.

Labels: McDonough

Dianne & Tom Dowd recently visited the Worcester Public Library in search of some death notices for their family research when they happened across the Worcester Telegram January 8, 1928 front page story: Miss Marie McDonough, 18, and companion, plunge four stories in elevator shaft at New Rochelle.

The article recounts how Marie McDonough (later Hayes) had a horrible accident her freshman year at college. Marie was the daughter of Patrick McDonough (the only son of Thomas & Mary's 10 children). While Marie survived the fall, finished college (albeit at a different school) married, had children, and lived a long life - she did bear the physical scars of her accident.

Unfortunately, her friend, Frances Covey, was not as lucky as we learn in the January 12, 1928 Massina Observer article: Massena girl killed in plunge down shaft

- Lawsuit articles after the accident

Labels: McDonough

Among the items in the Dowd Collection was this photo of a thatched roofed home located somewhere in the county of Roscommon, Ireland. In 1966 the Dowd family visited Ireland and located the McDonough homestead. Along with this picture were others on 35mm slides. The slides are a series of images of the house, the surrounding views of the countryside from the farm, and images taken along the road leading to or from the farm.

Unfortunately, while scanning the slides I experienced some technical difficulties. I have other images of the home and farmstead to share in future posts, but one image in particular I am missing - a photo of a sign post which must be near the old McDonough farm. While I am missing the image, I do have the information on the sign.

Pointing left to Geevagh 5 1/2 and Drumshanbo 17 and right to Ballygawley 4 and Sligo 10



If you click on the map above to view larger, you will see that I have found and circled three of the four locations from the sign. It appears that the most likely area of Roscommon that the farm is located is in the Northern area and near the Sligo boarder.

The Roscommon riddle that we need to solve is this - given the information in the postcards, the picture, information from the sign, and locations on the map - can we narrow down a specific location for the farm?

As always any additional information or suggestions are welcome either by email or in the comments.

Labels: Dowd_Collection, McDonough

Among the collection of Dowd images, was this photo of Bartholomew McDonough (Father to Mary McDonough Dowd and Uncle to the McDonough children of 1 View Street). As you can see the original photo was not in the best shape. I spent a few hours today fixing the image to the best of my ability.

I wanted to highlight this work to assure anyone out there who has old pictures that are not in perfect condition - these images can be saved!

Labels: Dowd_Collection, McDonough

My Father and I just returned from a lovely afternoon with Tom and Dianne Dowd. During our visit they shared with us their amazing collection of photographs, newspaper articles and other family history mementos.

I brought along my scanner and laptop and set-up "shop" in their dinning room and captured as much as I could. I can't thank Dianne and Tom enough for their generosity in sharing the collection and in their good humor and patience during the hours that we imposed on their hospitality!

Here is my first post regarding the material collected today. I have tagged this with both the McDonough tag and a new Dowd_Collection tag to help me stay organized.



This was one of the first images Dianne handed me. On the back is marked Agnes McDonough Thompson, who was the 8th of the 10 children of Thomas & Mary McDonough and born June 7, 1893. Here she is seen clutching her jump rope and striking a very cute pose. She appears to be about 3 years old. Finding this photo among the Dowd collection of photos provides a clear link that yes - we are definitely connected and belong to the same McDonough family tree.

Labels: Dowd_Collection, McDonough

A new McDonough image has arrived for me to share. Pictured is Mary M. McDonough Dowd with three of her four children - son John Dowd and twin daughters Marie and Anna Dowd. Mary is buried with her parents, Bartholomew McDonough and Margaret Fay McDonough in St. John's Cemetery in Worcester (see cemetery tour here). This photo was provided by Dianne Dowd - Thank you Dianne! She dates the photo to 1911 and I will assume it was taken in Worcester, MA.

Mary Margaret McDonough Dowd was born on July 11, 1882 which makes her about 1 month older than her cousin Katherine McDonough Kennedy (middle row seated last on the left) who is the third of Thomas' ten children.

This photo likely dates to about the same time (give or take a few years) of Thomas McDonough's family in Worcester, MA. Thomas was Mary's uncle and all of his children were Mary's first cousins. It is interesting to click on each photo (to see larger) and compare the faces of the cousins.

Another interesting thing to note that Mary and her uncle Thomas had in common - both had twins! Two of Thomas McDonough's daughters are fraternal twins. Could twins run in the McDonough family?

Labels: McDonough

Among the slew of Christmas cards I received, one from Dianne Dowd arrived containing a copy of Bartholomew McDonough's 1926 Obituary. After a considerable hunt, I managed to unearth that important piece of paper, scan it and now it is attached to this post (link above).

Reading this obituary, I see that between 1913 (Thomas McDonough's obituary) and 1926, brother Bartholomew's obituary, the remaining McDonough siblings remain alive and I assume in their same locations. At least sister Catherine (or Katherine as was the spelling in Thomas' obit) Murphy is still in Ireland.

I would still love to be able to find photos of the siblings, if they exist. Pinpointing their village in Ireland is still another research goal...

Labels: McDonough

The family history search continues. Finding the time to analyze the finds and then post about them is the hard part for me lately. Life is very busy! Enough excuses from me, here is the latest:

You may recall that Thomas McDonough (my great-grandfather) obituary revealed that he had siblings. One of whom was named Bartholomew. I was able to locate Bartholomew's grave in Worcester.

Unfortunately I was stopped at that point. You would think a name like Bartholomew McDonough would be fairly unique. I had hoped that uniqueness would help me locate a Naturalization record for him.

I did find paperwork for the Naturalization in Worcester in 1918 of a
Bartholomew Joseph McDonough born 1887 in Sligo, Ireland. Now this Bartholomew can't possibly be the brother of Thomas - he is far too young. But could he be a nephew?

Labels: McDonough

Unfortunately, I have not found a wedding photo of the McDonough - Ahern wedding, but this photo appeared on the same page as the wedding article. The article has a few typos, but it paints a striking image of the event. The photo of the woman in the hat helps you visualize the fashions described:

Worcester Evening Post
August 19, 1912

AHERN - MacDONOUGH

Miss Sarah W. MacDonough, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas MacDonough of 1 View street, was the first bride to be married in the church of the Ascension. Miss MacDonough was married to Albert J. Ahern of South Windsor, Conn. at 9 o'clock this morning. The Rev. James J. Farrell rector of the church, performed the ceremony.

The bridesmaid was Miss Anna G. MacDonough, a sister of the bride, and the best man was David Ahern of Windsor, a brother of the bridegroom.

The bride wore a suit of white serge trimmed with heavy silk braid and a white felt hat ornamented with two birds of paradise. She carried a shower bouquet of bride roses.

Miss Anna wore a white serge Norfolk suit with a black velvet hat trimmed with two algrettes. She carried pink sweet peas.

The bridal party entered the church to the strains of the wedding march from "Lohengrim," played by Miss Ella McCarthy, who played the Mendelsohn wedding march, as a recessional. Charles J. Hickey was soloist at the mass.

A wedding breakfast for members of the families was served in the home of the bride's parents, after which Mr. and Mrs. Ahearn left on a wedding trip to Canada. They will live in Windsor Ct.

The bride traveled in a blue tailored suit, with a blue felt hat to match.

Mr. and Mrs. Ahearn received many beautiful wedding gifts, including silver, cut glass and bric-a-brac.

I found it interesting that the article mentions what kind of wedding gifts the couple received. I had no idea that bric-a-brac was considered as desirable as silver!

Labels: McDonough

I have posted before about the L.W. Pond company and how that Worcester business played an important role in M. Thomas O'Leary's life and for the McDonough family.

Recently, Mary Kennedy Dean sent me some photos of large cast iron planters manufactured at the L. W. Pond foundry by Katherine McDonough Kennedy for her daughter, MaryJane Kennedy Gaitings' driveway. This reminded me to look again for information about the L. W. Pond company. What I found was the following interesting tale about the founder of the company - one Lucius Wilson Pond:

Lucius W. Pond was born in April 1826 in Worcester and worked as an apprentice for Samuel Flagg - part of a 10 man shop turning out quality tools. After only three years, L.W. Pond rose from apprentice to foreman and then partner. In 1853 Samuel Flagg retired and sold his share in the business. By 1854 Pond bought out the other remaining partners and built a new works on the Flagg site. The new works, covering at least 7 acres had scarcely been completed before it was destroyed by fire. Despite heavy losses by the failure of insurance companies, L.W. Pond was able to pay all creditors in full and rebuild. This action left the company was a remarkable credit throughout the business world. By 1875 the works employed 1,000 workers in Worcester.

The Pond works gained a reputation for producing as fine a quality of tools as any in the country as well as for innovating ingenious tools. To expand the reputation of his company and attract more business, Mr. Pond opened a large store in New York City "where he placed a good assortment of his iron and wood-working machinery. This was the only wareroom in the city where such machinery could be seen in motion and this fact sold quantities of his work."

Beyond being a successful and shrewd businessman, L.W. Pond took an interest in public affairs, serving several years in the Massachusetts Senate. He was also very active in his church and was a well known and well respected man around Worcester and beyond. All of this made the following events in 1875 all the more scandalous:

December 26, 1882
The New York Times
Lucius W. Pond Pardoned
Liberated after serving seven years

The irregularities of Mr. Pond were brought to light by his sudden disappearance. It was announced early in October that he had disappeared under mysterious circumstances, and it was reported that a man, supposed to be he, was last seen in the state-room of the steamer Providence, of the Fall River Line on her trip to New-York, where, on the morning of her arrival, a coat, hat, and pair of shoes were found, which were afterward identified as his. The theory that he had been "foully dealt with" was advanced, and found credence. It was several days after before his forgeries were detected. It was found that the faces of notes had been removed and rewritten with larger amounts than the original, while the endorsements were genuine. The original notes were generally made payable at Mr. Pond's office, so that when they were paid they remained in his possession without any marks of cancellation, or anything to show that they were dead paper. It was then a tolerably easy matter to remove the writing on the face with an acid and write in fresh dates and amounts and add Mr. Pond's own signature, while the endorsements were allowed to remain. The arrest of Pond was made in San Francisco [just before he was boarding a ship set to sail for Australia.]

You can click on the title to read the full article, but it appears Lucius passed about $40,000 in bad checks in a six month period in 1875. Knowing that his forgeries were about to be detected, he faked his own death, fled to the West Coast, and attempted to flee the country. The victims of his forgeries ranged from friends, family, prominent business men, to widows, orphans, and his own church. However, in the end, the very friends he defrauded helped him obtain early pardon and eventually re-established him in business in Worcester.

Labels: McDonough, OLeary

While researching Thomas McDonough's siblings, I noticed on Martin McDonough's grave stone a notation about a Martin F. McDonough being just 16 years old when he died (see photo from grave yard tour). Sadly, as I research various family members, I have become accustomed to stumbling across death records for very young children. But the death of a sixteen year old? There must be some sort of a story to uncover here.

First I looked up the death notice published in the Worcester Evening Post on November 7, 1898. That notice contained the bare facts of the event. The next find (1898 Worcester Evening Post long obit)provided many more clues to young Martin's short life.

Worcester Evening Post
November 8, 1898

High Requiem Mass

The Funeral of Martin McDonough This Morning.

The funeral of Martin McDonough, son of Mr. and Mrs. McDonough, of No. 3 Esther street, took place from the parents' residence this morning. A requiem high mass was held at Sacred Heart church. Rev. Wm. Foley offered up the mass. The floral tributes included a pillow and 16 pinks from the Maxwell Football club, a cross marked "Our Son", pillow marked "At Rest" and a bunch of pinks tied with lavender ribbon from his comrades, star marked "Cousin" from Mr. and Mrs. Dominick Sweeney, sixteen pinks tied with white ribbon from Mary and John McDonough, bunch of chrysanthemums tied with white ribbon from Earle W. Ide and Chas. A. Church, pinks tied with white ribbon from Margaret Mullaney, sixteen white roses tied with ribbon from Susan Conlin and bouquets from P.T. and Catharine J. McDonough. The pallbearers were: John J. Brennan, Patrick J. Mullaney, John Sweeney, Martin Murphy, Patrick T. McDonough and Jas. F. Thompson. Services at the grave were read by Rev. Bernard Conaty. The burial mass was at St. John's cemetery.

We now know Martin Jr. lived at 3 Esther Street, was a member of the Maxwell Football Club, and he received many floral tributes from friends and family. It appears his cousins, Patrick and Katherine McDonough attended the service, with Patrick serving as a pall bearer. Patrick would have been about 18 years old while Katherine was 16.

To find out what caused Martin's death, I searched for his death record and found it here. It reveals that young Martin died of pneumonia. It also reveals that Martin was employed as a wireworker. I would have expected him to still be a student.

Labels: McDonough

I recently received a request for some old McDonough wedding photos. In particular, Rae Patria is seeking the wedding photo of his grandmother, Sara "Sadie" McDonough Ahern.

If you have old wedding photos that you can share please let me know. Also, if you have old photos which appear to be from around 1900 - 1920 which could contain some of the McDonough women, I am very interested in them as well.

I am planning another trip to the Worcester Library soon to search the microfilm archives specifically for McDnoough wedding announcements. My hope is that some of those announcements may have contained a photo. We shall see...

Labels: McDonough

I have received another request for help with identifying people in an old family photo. This time the request is from Rae and below is his question:

On the cover of the CD-Rom, there are three women standing above and over to the right of Nana. Who are they? They are obviously McDonoughs' or in-laws. Attached is a photo - circa 1939 - where the woman holding me could be the same person at the extreme right on the CD-Rom. Am I correct? Then who is she and who is the young lad with her who is obviously her son?

As always, you can click on the photo to see larger. So far, in the above photo we have identified:

1. Thomas R. Deedy
2. Louis McDonough McCarthy
3. Rae Patria

Here is the photo Rae mentions from the cover of the CD-ROM handed out at the Sept. 7th Gathering. The photo is from my Grandmother, Grace McDonough Deedy's, photo album and was taken inside 1 View Street.

The people in this photo are as follows:

1. Mary Loftus McDonough
2. Grace McDonough Deedy
3. Thomas McDonough
4. Margaret McDonough Barry
5. Anne McDonough Fay

If you can help with the identification, please leave a comment or send me an email. As always, Thank you for your help!

Labels: McDonough

At the Gathering last Sunday a number of people who brought old photo albums had a common question - "Do you know who these people are in this picture?" If you can help identify people in group shots (as always, click on images to view larger), please leave a comment on the post or send me an email. Here is a photo where we are trying to identify everyone. This photo was submitted by Mary Kennedy Dean and it was likely taken in the yard at 1 View Street in Worcester. Here is who has been identified so far by Mary and Paul Drew-Bear:

1. Marion O'Leary
2. Peggy McCarthy Rafferty
3. Marie McDonough
4. Evelyn McDonough
5. Tom Kennedy
6.
7.
8.

Labels: McDonough

Since discovering that Thomas McDonough had siblings living in Worcester prior to his 1913 death, I have been reviewing the Worcester Directory to see if I could find them. Here are the pages I have found of the
Worcester Directory from 1878 - 1913.

In 1878 there are only two McDonough males listed in the directory. Thomas McDonough and a Frank McDonough (who appears to be moving to Fall River). In 1879 we have four McDonough's listed, and it appears Thomas McDonough's brother, Martin McDonough has now joined him in Worcester. In the 1885 - 1886 we see that Thomas McDonough appears in the business directory for operating a boarding house. By 1887 it appears Bartholomew and Annie McDonough have joined siblings Thomas and Martin in Worcester.

Now that I have some dates of arrival to go with names, I will see if I can find passenger records or naturalization records for the siblings.

Labels: McDonough

Thomas McDonough's obituary has finally been found and it contains some very exciting information!

Worcester Evening Gazette
Monday December 8, 1913

THOMAS McDONOUGH

Thomas McDonough, aged 54, died last night in his home, 1 View street of heart disease. He was a member of the Holy Name society of the Church of the Ascension, and was formerly a member of the St. Vincent de Paul society of Sacred Heart church.

He leaves his wife, Mary (Loftus) McDonough; nine daughters, Mary E., wife of M. T. O'Leary; Katherine J., wife of Maurice J. Kennedy; Margaret F., wife of John J. Barry, Worcester; Sadie W., wife of Albert J. Ahern, East Windsor Hill, Ct; Anna G., Louise M., Agnes V., Eva B. and Grace R. McDonough, and a son, Patrick T. McDonough; also two sisters, Mrs. Michael Brennan, Worcester, and Mrs Katherine Murphy in Ireland, and two brothers, Martin H. and Bartholomew McDonough, Worcester.

The funeral will be Wednesday morning, with a solemn high mass of requiem in the Church of the Ascension at 9 o'clock. Burial will be in St. John's cemetery.

Now I have some names to try and find - Mrs. Michael Brennan, Martin H. McDonough, and Bartholomew McDonough all of Worcester. Mrs. Katherine Murphy of Ireland will be harder to find, since I still don't know where in Ireland the McDonough's originated. Hopefully, Martin or Bartholomew will be easy to find and track.

Labels: McDonough

While gathering documents to help me identify various family members, I noticed something a bit strange in the McDonough plot record at St. John's Cemetery in Worcester. The record lists a Robert Murphy buried in the McDonough family grave on August 18, 1906. As only the second occupant of the plot, he must have had a connection to Thomas McDonough or Mary Loftus McDonough, but what that connection might be was unclear. The last name did not ring any bells with my Father. As far as he knew, we are not related to any Murphy's.

To solve the mystery, I combed the Massachusetts Vital Records database and found Robert Murphy"s death certificate. The few pieces of information contained in the record sheds some light on the Murphy-McDonough connection. Robert Murphy was an infant, and his last address was listed at 226 Vernon Street. We know that home was owned by Thomas McDonough. Robert Murphy's mother is listed as Winifred S. Loftus (married to a Martin J. Murphy). Was Winifred S. Loftus a sister of Mary Loftus McDonough? If not a sister, then a cousin or a niece? Obviously there must have been a close family connection for her to be living at 226 Vernon and having her son buried in Mary's plot. It will take more digging to uncover the full nature of the connection, unless someone else can provide me with the answer?

Labels: Loftus, McDonough

After writing the post about Mrs O'Leary's Crazy Car Ride I became interested in seeing if I could learn any more about the O'Leary automotive business. I found the company L.W. Pond listed in the 1907 Worcester Directory along with the following small pieces of information:

Worcester Directory 1907

McDonough, Catherine, teacher, bds. 1 View
McDonough, Margaret F., stenographer, Assonet c. Gold, bds. 1 View
McDonough, Patrick T., bookkeeper, Assonet corner
McDonough, Thomas, clerk, h. 1 View
O'Leary, M. Thomas, pres. and treas. L.W. Pond Machine & Foundry Co., Gold cor. Assonet, h. 1 View

While Catherine is employed as a teacher, the rest of the eldest McDonough children seem to be employed at the L.W. Pond company. Thomas McDonough does not list his employer, but it is possible he is also working at his son-in-law's company. Another interesting tidbit - it appears, after reading the ad pictured above (click on image to see larger), that at least some of the cars sold at L.W. Pond are electric (when automobiles first appeared on the market they were not all of the gasoline powered variety). After re-reading the crazy car post, I believe that vehicle was also an electric car.

Labels: McDonough, OLeary

I have been searching for other McDonough families in Worcester to see if Thomas McDonough might have had some siblings immigrate with him (who I could then track to see if I can trace them back to Ireland - I am hoping for a more unique first name). In the 1932 Worcester Directory, I see 9 McDonough's listed. Unfortunately the majority are women (it is easier to trace men) and the men's names are very common.

I will have to see if I can find some earlier versions of the directories. Thomas McDonough immigrated in 1873 and before 1900 was naturalized. However, I was not able to find his naturalization paperwork at the National Archive. If I can find that paperwork it would list his village or city in Ireland.

Labels: McDonough

While looking up articles about Jack Barry, I came across this 1912 piece.

Boston Daily Globe
November 19, 1912

FATAL HURTS IN ACCIDENT

Mrs A. J. Ahern Dying in Hartford Hospital - Sister-in-Law of Jack Barry of Philadelphia Athletics.

WORCESTER, Nov 18 - According to information which reached Worcester today, Mrs. Albert J. Ahern of East Windsor Hill, Conn, who is known to a host of Worcester folks as Sadie McDonough, who was the first bride to be married in the new Church of the Ascension on Aug 18, is lying at the point of death in St. Francis Hospital, Hartford, as the result of an auto accident last night.

Her husband, Albert J. Ahern is in the same hospital suffering from a broken leg, a broken arm, a broken nose and two deep cuts across the face. Mrs Ahern's injury consists of a fracture of the skull at the base of the brain and the hospital physicians hold out no hope for her recovery.

Alfred Crickmore of East Windsor Hill suffored a broken leg and Miss Isabel Mulligan and Miss May Mulligan of Springfield escaped with body bruises in the same accident. The party had been to Hartford for dinner and was returning to the Ahern home when one of the front wheels of the auto snapped off, causing the rear wheel on the left side to break and overturning the heavy machine. The Mulligan girls were thrown clear of the machine but the others were caught under the wreckage.

Mrs Ahern is the daughter of Mr and Mrs Thomas McDonough of 1 View st and sister-in-law of "Jack" Barry, shortstop of the Philadelphia Athletics. Previously to her marriage to Mr Ahern she was a nurse in St Francis Hospital in Hartford. Her wedding, the first in the new Church of the Ascension, was a notable event and in recognition of it she and her husband presented the parish the sanctuary bench.

Sadie Ahern was Margaret Barry's twin sister. She would have been about 27 years old at the time of the accident. Did she survive the head injuries? The church mentioned in the piece - was that in Worcester or in Hartford? Does that bench still exist? How common was it for cars to just fall apart in 1912?

Labels: McDonough

Thomas and Mary McDonough purchased two lots on View Street in Worcester and ultimately built two homes on those lots - 1 View Street and 3 View Street. 1 View Street was the home that proved how successful this couple had become. According to the Worcester Assessing page the home has over 5,000 sq ft of living space. When you look at a photo of the house, you can see that this home was built to be Thomas and Mary's own castle. On the uphill view of the home you can also see that the structure is four stories tall (with a full basement below). 3 View street next door is three stories tall. This is interesting to note since it seems to contradict the restrictions found in the deed Thomas and Mary signed when purchasing the View Street lots.

Granted premises are conveyed subject to the restrictions that no building of more than two and one half stories, or of the type commonly known as a "three decker" shall ever be erected thereon, that no building shall ever be erected within fifteen (15) feet of said southerly line of said View Street and that no barn shall ever be erected on any part of granted premises.

Labels: McDonough

I have been busy researching land records at the Worcester Registry of Deeds this week. While I am experiencing some success, one address is proving elusive.

In the 1900 Census the McDonough family listed 226 Vernon Street as their home, which Thomas McDonough owned and carried a mortgage on. Unfortunately that address now appears to be a parking lot. I could not find a book and page thread to follow to locate the original purchase or mortgage records. At one point I just started looking for any record on Vernon street and came across a 1910 plan. While it is unlikely any of the lots noted on the plan are for 226 Vernon (since the family already owned the property in 1900) some of the sales jargon in the 1910 plan is interesting and gives a peek into how home ownership was achieved by hard working immigrants.

BARRYMORE
Worcesters beautiful new addition

Situated on and surrounded by broad avenues

VERNON-BALLARD
and
Grammont - Baltic
and
Overland Roads

Picturesque - Healthful

Streets, Sidewalks, and all improvements
10 minutes ride from City Hall
Accessible by four lines of Electrics

Beautiful Building Lots $250 to $300
First Payment $5.00 and only $1.25 to $2.50 per week.
No Mortgage, No Interest, No Taxes

Labels: McDonough

By the 1910 Census, we see the McDonough family prospering. Mary Loftus McDonough has finally finished with child birth and can now count 10 surviving children. In 1910 their ages ranged from 30 years old down to 8 years old. Most of whom are still residing together under the same roof.

1910 United State Federal Census

Address: 1 View Street

McDonough, Thomas, 55
------ , Mary, 52
------ , Catherine J, 27
------ , Margaret F., 24
------ , Sadie W., 24
------ , Anne G., 20
------ , Louise M., 19
------ , Agnes V., 16
------ , Eva V., 14
------ , Grace, 8

Both Thomas & Mary McDonough note: 1st Marriage, Married 31 years

Mary McDonough has given birth to 11 children, 10 who survived

Both Thomas & Mary give the year of immigration as 1876.

Thomas is a naturalized citizen.

Thomas' occupation is "Helper" in "Iron Foundry"
Catherine's occupation is "Teacher" in "Public School"
Margaret's occupation is "Stenographer" in "Office"
Sadie's occupation is "Saleslady" in "Dept. Store"

Thomas is noted as the owner of a mortgaged home - 1 View Street

This is the second time we see Thomas McDonough noted as the owner of a home. I will have to check up on 226 Vernon Street and see who is now living there - given that the McDonough's have moved up to the larger and newer View Street home. The McDonough girls are also seen as growing up and working in different careers. These young ladies are not going off to work in the many Worcester factories or being employed as domestics or servants. Instead they are working in occupations that take some education and skill to obtain. They also appear not to be rushing into marriages. They are career girls first, marriages and children will come later.

Thomas McDonough's occupation intrigues me. His son-in-law Michael O'Leary, who is also living at 1 View Street with his young family, is a manager of an iron foundry. I wonder if Thomas' occupation as "Helper" is in that same iron foundry?

Labels: McDonough

By 1900 Thomas and Mary McDonough are home owners and have progressed from one child in the 1880 census to 9 children by 1900.

1900 United State Federal Census

Address: 226 Vernon Street

McDonough, Thos. (b. Aug 1857) 42
------ , Mary A (b. Aug 1859) 40
------ , Mary E (b. Jul 1878) 21
------ , Patrick T (b. Nov 1880) 19
------ , Catherine J (b. Aug 1882) 17
------ , Margaret (b. Apr 1885) 15
------ , Sarah W (b. Apr 1885) 15
------ , Annie (b. Nov 1888) 12
------ , Louise (b. Mar 1890) 10
------ , Agnes (b. June 1893) 6
------ , Eva (b. Jan 1896) 4
Loftus, Patrick (b. May 1830) 70

Patrick Loftus is noted as "F in law" to Head of House and is marked as a Widower

Thomas McDonough immigrated in 1873, has been in the US for 27 years. He is a naturalized citizen
Mary A. McDonough immigrated in 1874, has been in the US for 26 years.
Patrick Loftus immigrated in 1879, has been in the US for 21 years. He is an alien citizen

Thomas McDonough lists his occupation as "Teamster"
Mary E. McDonough lists her occupation as "Saleswoman"

Patrick Loftus has marked "No" in Can Read and "No" in Can Write and "Yes" in Speaks English

Thomas McDonough owns the home at 226 Vernon Street and holds a mortgage on the home

But the most excited bit of info in this census record is the addition of Patrick Loftus to the McDonough household. Patrick must be Mary A. McDonough's father. His record notes that he immigrated to the US in 1879, just five years after his daughter. Where has Patrick been living all this time? What was he doing? How long did he live with Thomas and Mary McDonough? When did he die? In what city? Where is he buried?

Labels: Loftus, McDonough

I have been following Thomas and Mary McDonough in the available US Census reports. They first appear in the 1880 Census. Below are some interesting little insights about this young family gleaned from the few short pieces of information noted:

1880 United State Federal Census

They were living on a street titled "No Name to Street - Corporate Houses".

Five people are noted together as a household:
McDonough, Tho's - age 28
McDonough, Mary - age 25
McDonough, Mary E - age 1
Mattamoore, Michael - age 28
Mattamoore, Barrey - age 24

The two Mattamoore men give their relationship to head of house as "Boarder"

Thomas McDonough and the two Mattamoore men list their occupations as "Works in Rolling Mill"

Mary McDonough has tick marks in the columns "Cannot read" and "Cannot write"

Mary McDonough lists her place of birth as "England" everyone else lists "Ireland" except Mary E. who lists "Massachusetts"

So from these few pieces of information I am already starting to get a picture of how ambitious Thomas and Mary were. Even living in "corporate houses" they were entrepreneurial enough to rent an extra room to a pair of brothers. Likely Mary did the housework for all three men while caring for her young daughter. Interesting to note that this photo of the young family was taken the same year as the above census facts were recorded. A small peek into their lives in 1880 in Worcester, MA.

Labels: McDonough

I would like to plan a gathering later this spring or summer in Worcester, MA to hopefully have a chance to meet some of the many cousins and other relatives who have contacted me after finding this blog. After much thought, Worcester seemed the best central meeting point and here is my proposed draft agenda:

Morning: Visit to graveyard to lay flowers at the many family graves

Noon: Lunch

Afternoon: Gather to show off any family photos, swap stories, or just generally get to know each other.

So there you have it, a pretty simple plan. I can already guarantee that I will be there with my parents (Tom and Sue Deedy). If no one else is interested, this will be a fairly easy day to plan! However, if you are a descendant of the McDonough’s or the Deedy’s and would like to attend please send me an email at jane@deedy.com or leave a comment below with your contact info. Once I have an idea of how many are interested I can start working on a more concrete plan.

Labels: Deedy, Gathering, McDonough

I just realized the Jack Barry Holy Cross book and the short story about Babe Ruth and Jack Barry did not make it onto the CDs I sent out. I will see about uploading them to the website for you to download or if more old family photos come in I will look into creating a Vol III CD and including the books/stories then.

Updated: Below are the two scanned stories I forgot to include in the CDs. Both are PDF files. If you have trouble downloading or viewing them please let me know.

How I got Babe Ruths Autograph by Jack Deedy

The Quiet Crusader

Labels: Deedy, Jack_Barry, McDonough

Mary Kennedy Dean has once again contributed some great pictures. Mary has identified the folks in the photo as follows:

Top Row: (l-r)Tom O'Leary, Mame McDonough O'Leary, ? ? Thomas McDonough
Middle Row: (l) Katherine McDonough
Bottom: Could that be Grace Deedy bottom left?

She believes the pictures was take on the porch sometime c. 1910.

This photo of Nana McDonough holding a baby was also taken around 1910.

As always any additions or corrects to the provided information are welcome in the comments. To see the photos a bit larger just click on them.

Thank you again Mary Dean!

Labels: McDonough

My Father found this photo taken years ago at a family gathering (maybe a wedding?) Pictured are cousins - all children of the McDonough girls.

My Father did his best to identify everyone below. As always you can click on the image to see larger.



1) Dodie Burgess (daughter of Eva McDonough)
2) Nancy Fay (daughter of Ann McDonough)
3) Marion (O'Leary) Roosevelt (daughter of Mary McDonough O'Leary)
4) Evelyn P. McDonough-Garton (daughter of Patrick T. McDonough)
5) Mary Jane Kennedy Gaitings (daughter of Kate McDonough)
6) Peg Rafferty (daughter of Lou McCarthy)
7) Bill Burgess (son of Eva McDonough)
8) Ted Thompson (son of Agnes McDonough)
9) Tom Deedy (son of Grace McDonough)
10) Bill Fay (son of Ann McDonough)
11) Leslie Thompson (son of Agnes McDonough)
12) Tom Kennedy (son of Kate McDonough)
13) Jim Fay (son of Ann McDonough)
14) Jack Deedy (son of Grace McDonough)
15) Ed Deedy (son of Grace McDonough)

If I have made a mistake please correct me in the comments!

Labels: McDonough

Once again Mary Kennedy Dean has contributed a gem of a picture. This time it is an 1880 family portrait of a young McDonough family. Mary reports that this picture was found in MaryJane's effects. Having seen the much larger and later McDonough family portrait - it is nice to see that when they had only one child the young couple look much more relaxed!

Pictured are Thomas McDonough (born in Sligo, Ireland 1853) and his wife Mary Morely Loftus McDonough (born York, England 1852) with their daughter Mary McDonough (born Worcester, Massachusetts 1879).

Thanks again Mary for the great contribution!

Labels: McDonough

Mary Kennedy Dean has once again been busy looking in old photo albums and has contributed another great family photo. You can click on the picture to see it larger. Hard to believe (for me) but that little boy pictured is my Dad!

Here are the names provided by Mary (my edits are in italics):

1. Marie McCarthy
2. Thomas Reed Deedy
3. MaryJane Kennedy
4. Aunt Ann (Ann McDonough Fay)
5. Marion O'Leary (daughter of Mary McDonough O'Leary)
6. Peggy (Rafferty?)
7. Aunt Grace (Grace McDonough Deedy)

Labels: McDonough

Katie McCarthy Dolan was kind enough to send me this undated photo of a family gathering (you can click on photo to see larger). Below I copied the photo and numbered the individuals. She identified each of the people pictured. You can see that #9, Katie's grandmother, is Louise McDonough McCarthy - so Katie's grandmother was my grandmother's older sister!

1. Josephine (Johanna) McCarthy
2. Granger (Ed ?)
3. Jack Bean
4. Michael Aloysius McCarthy
5. Nona McCarthy
6. Marie McCarthy Halpin
7. Peg Lawler
8. Johanna Healy
9. Louise McDonough McCarthy

Now, we are all familiar with the McDonough clan family photo. But I have a problem. I don't know how to match up all the faces with the names. Specifically, I don't know which of the young McDonough girls is Katie's grandmother Louise. If you can fill in the blanks please do so in the comments. Here is the numbered group photo with the people I am 100% sure of identified:

1. Mary Loftus McDonough
2. Thomas McDonough
3. Mary McDonough O'Leary
4. Patrick McDonough
5. Katherine McDonough Kennedy
6. Ann McDonough Fay
7. Margaret McDonough Barry
8. Agnes McDonough Thompson
9. Sarah McDonough Ahern
10. Louise McDonough McCarthy
11. Eva McDonough Burgess
12. Grace McDonough Deedy

So I need to know which numbers to put beside the following girls names: Katherine McDonough Kennedy, Sara McDonough Ahern, Margaret McDonough Barry, Ann McDonough Fay, Louise McDonough McCarthy, and Agnes McDonough Thompson. If you can help please leave a comment. Thank you!

Update: Thanks to Mary Kennedy Dean we now have the missing numbers filled in. Thanks Mary!

Labels: McDonough

Mary Kennedy Dean of Scituate, MA left a comment this evening. She is the granddaughter of Katherine McDonough Kennedy who was my grandmother's (Grace McDonough Deedy) older sister. In honor of the first McDonough comment I thought I would post some more McDonough photos from the photo album.

This is the info I have regarding the McDonough Family:

Thomas McDonough (d. 12/7/1913 Steel Mill worker, accidently electrocuted) and his wife Mary Loftus McDonough (d. 8/30/1948) and their ten children. Mary H. McDonough O'Leary (1878-1934), Patrick (Uncle Mac) McDonough (d. 8/6/1952), Sadie McDonough Ahern (Died in childbirth her mother raised her children), Agnes McDonough Thompson (Married a Corp. Lawyer, NYC, 3 boys Leslie, Ted & John), Ann McDonough Fay (Funeral home owner, Worcester, 3 children, Jim, Bill & Nancy), Katherine McDonough Kennedy (Construction), Margaret McDonough Barry (Baseball), Louise McDonough McCarthy (4 children), Eva McDonough Burgess (NYC, 3 children), Grace R. McDonough Deedy (1902-1985 homemaker, 4 boys). The family lived in 1 View Street, Worcester, MA

If you have additional info to add (dates would be great) or just stories about any of the McDonoughs in the list please leave a comment!

Labels: McDonough

The Deedy family lived on Wabash Ave in Worcester. Here is the house as it looks today. You can click on the images to view larger.


The McDonough family lived on View street. Here are some views of the house as it appears today. Again, you can click on the images to view larger.

Neither home is currently owned or occupied by the McDonough or Deedy families. Both homes are good examples of Triple Decker architecture - common mostly in New England. These homes were built to house large extended families - with an apartment on each level.

Labels: Deedy, McDonough